Ms. Couric will speak before more than 5,000 graduates and 20,000 guests at New England’s largest graduation ceremony a few weeks before she leaves her post at CBS. Couric will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters.

BU President Robert A. Brown announced the commencement, baccalaureate speakers and honorary degree recipients to the members of the Class of 2011 this morning at the annual Senior Breakfast, held at the George Sherman Union.

Brown also revealed that Ahmed Zewail, Ph.D., who teaches at the California Institute of Technology and won a Nobel Prize in 1999 for his research into super-fast molecular transformations, will deliver the Commencement Day baccalaureate address at 11:00 a.m. at Marsh Chapel. Dr. Zewail will also receive an honorary Doctor of Science degree.

The prestigious list of honorary degree recipients includes activist Victoria Reggie Kennedy (Doctor of Laws) who will also speak at the School of Social Work’s convocation; TV chef, author and BU instructor Jacques Pepin (Doctor of Humane Letters); painter Frank Stella (Doctor of Fine arts); and journalist Nina Totenberg (Doctor of Humane Letters).

Also announced today are the recipients of BU’s Metcalf Cup and Prize and Metcalf Awards for Excellence in Teaching. Receiving the esteemed Metcalf Cup is Judith Chaffee, associate professor of movement at the College of Fine Arts. This year’s Metcalf Award winners are Wayne LaMorte, assistant dean for education and professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health; and David Walker, Maurice Poch Faculty Research Scholar and professor at the School of Law. The Metcalf Cup carries with it a prize of $10,000 and the Metcalf Award winners receive $5,000. Students, faculty and alumni nominate candidates for the awards established in 1973 by a gift from the late Boston University Board of Trustees chairman emeritus Arthur G.B. Metcalf.